Apparatus and method for preventing accident in portable terminal

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and a method for preventing an accident in a portable terminal are provided. The method includes obtaining environmental situation information from a sensor, detecting a dangerous object by analyzing the environmental situation information, extracting at least one of a notice service mapped to the dangerous object and a control service mapped to the dangerous object, and executing the at least one of the extracted notice service and the extracted control service.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) of a Koreanpatent application filed on Apr. 4, 2013 in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office and assigned Serial number 10-2013-0036653, the entiredisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and a method forpreventing an accident in a portable terminal More particularly, thepresent disclosure relates to an apparatus and a method for preventing acollision by identifying and/or determining a dangerous object throughan analysis of an environmental situation obtained from a sensor andintuitively notifying to a user using a portable terminal

BACKGROUND

According to the recent development in digital technology, variousportable terminals for processing communication and personalinformation, such as a mobile communication terminal, a Personal DigitalAssistant (PDA), an electronic notebook, a smart phone, and a tabletPersonal Computer (PC), are being launched.

The portable terminal can support various application functions of avoice communication, a Short Message Service (SMS), a Multimedia MessageService (MMS), video communication, an electronic notebook, a camera,email exchange, broadcasting play, moving image play, an interne,electronic commerce, music play, schedule management, a SocialNetworking Service (SNS), a messenger, a dictionary, and a game console.

However, problems may be generated because a number of persons usingportable terminals while driving or walking is increasing.

Due to the popularization of portable terminals, persons using theportable terminal while driving or walking are frequently seenregardless of the time and place. If a person concentrates on a mobilephone while driving or walking, the person may cause an accident and/orbecome a target of a crime because the person may not easily recognizean environmental situation. Namely, if a portable terminal usertransmits a message, listens to music, surfs the interne while walkingor driving, or concentrates on the portable terminal in any similarand/or non-suitable manner, a user may not recognize dangers existing ina surrounding environment. It is common that users concentrating on aportable terminal jay walk or unconsciously step ahead while waiting inthe traffic sign. The users must pay attention to the change of atraffic sign and vehicles approaching from the right and left, howeverthe users frequently neglect paying attention to the traffic sign andvehicles.

Further, sexual molesters may commit a crime against a woman payingattention to a portable terminal in a subway or street, and therebymeasures for solving the problems are urgently needed.

The related art discloses a technology of inducing a user to concentrateon a front direction by simultaneously providing two screens through ascreen merging technology for an operating application, for example,SMS, and a camera application.

Namely, the related art overlaps a camera image on a background of theoperating application. However, if the user concentrates on theoperating application, the user may not recognize a dangerous state eventhough the background shows an environmental situation. Therefore, thismethod may not be effective for warning the user against the danger.This is because the user may not correctly recognize an environmentalsituation due to a blindness, lack of concentration, and/or lack ofattention, even though the user's eyes are directed to the front.

For example, according to the statistics of traffic accidents, afront-observing rate drops to 50% if a driver watches a DigitalMultimedia Broadcast (DMB), which is much lower than a front-observingrate 72% corresponding to a driver's blood alcohol concentration 0.1%,which may be relevant to the revocation of a driving license. It isobvious that the front-observing rate may drops if the user glances atthe environmental situation in a background. Therefore, this method maynot be a practical solution for preventing an accident even though theterminal device provides an image of environmental situation in thebackground.

The above information is presented as background information only toassist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determinationhas been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the abovemight be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the present disclosure are to address at least theabove-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at leastthe advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the presentdisclosure is to provide an apparatus and a method for preventing anaccident in a portable terminal by identifying and/or determining adangerous object and/or a dangerous state through an analysis ofenvironmental situation information obtained from a sensor and notifyinga user using the mobile terminal.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a method forpreventing an accident in a portable terminal is provided. The methodincludes obtaining environmental situation information from a sensor,detecting a dangerous object by analyzing the environmental situationinformation, extracting at least one of a notice service mapped to thedangerous object and a control service mapped on the dangerous object,and executing the at least one of the extracted notice service and theextracted control service.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, anapparatus for preventing an accident in a portable terminal is provided.The apparatus includes a sensor unit configured to obtain environmentalsituation information of the portable terminal, a control unitconfigured to detect a dangerous object by analyzing the environmentalsituation information obtained from the sensor unit, to extract at leastone of a notice service mapped to the dangerous object and a controlservice mapped to the dangerous object, and to execute the at least oneof the extracted notice service and the extracted control service, and astorage unit configured to store environmental situation information forcomparing with the at least one of the extracted notice service and theextracted control service.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings,discloses various embodiments of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certainembodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a portableterminal for preventing an accident while using the portable terminalaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure of preventing anaccident while using a portable terminal according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure of preventing anaccident while using a portable terminal according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure; and

FIGS. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are screen examples illustrating aservice providing method for preventing an accident while using aportable terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbersare used to depict the same or similar elements, features, andstructures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings isprovided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of variousembodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and theirequivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in thatunderstanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatvarious changes and modifications of the various embodiments describedherein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of thepresent disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functionsand constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are notlimited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by theinventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the presentdisclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in theart that the following description of various embodiments of the presentdisclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for thepurpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appendedclaims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the”include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes referenceto one or more of such surfaces.

The portable terminal according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be applied to any suitable information and/orcommunication equipment and multimedia equipment, such as a tabletPersonal Computer (PC), a mobile communication terminal, a mobile phone,a personal information terminal, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), asmart phone, an International Mobile Telecommunication 2000 (IMT-2000)terminal, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) terminal, a WidebandCode Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) terminal, a Global System forMobile communication (GSM) terminal, a General Packet Radio Service(GPRS) terminal, an Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE) terminal, aUniversal Mobile Telecommunication Service (UMTS) terminal, a digitalbroadcasting terminal, an Automated Teller Machine (ATM), or any othersimilar and/or suitable electronic device.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a portableterminal for preventing an accident while using the portable terminalaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1, the portable terminal, according to an embodimentof the present disclosure, is configured with a sensor unit 100, acontrol unit 120, a storage unit 130, a display unit 140, an audioprocessing unit 150, an input unit 160, and a wireless communicationunit 170.

The sensor unit 100 may be automatically driven by a specificapplication of the portable terminal according to a designer's decisionand/or a user's selection. The sensor unit 100 is integrated in theportable terminal, and performs a role of obtaining environmentalsituation information of the portable terminal.

The sensor unit 100 may be configured with an image sensor 102, a motionsensor 104, a sound detector 106, a temperature sensor 108, a proximitysensor 109, and an environmental sensor (not shown), and may furtherinclude any sensor which can obtain environmental situation informationof the portable terminal, such as a motion sensor, an accelerationsensor, a gyroscopic sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, an inertial sensor, atilt sensor, an infrared sensor, and any other similar and/or suitablesensor.

The control unit 120 drives the sensor unit 100 in an execution state ofan application or a waiting state, and/or according to a user input. Thecontrol unit 120 obtains environmental situation information using thesensor unit 100, and detects a dangerous object and/or dangerous stateby analyzing the environmental situation information. The control unit120 extracts a control service or notice service mapped on the dangerousobject and/or dangerous state if the detected dangerous object and/ordangerous state is determined, wherein the dangerous object and/ordangerous state may inflict an injury on a user, and the control unit120 executes the extracted control service or notice service.

Here, the application may include an embedded application, a 3rd partyapplication, or any other similar and/or suitable application that maybe included in the portable terminal. The embedded application is anapplication launched in the portable terminal, such as a browser, email,and instant messenger. The 3rd party application may include variousapplications which may be installed in the portable terminal bydownloading from an online market.

The control unit 120 may obtain the environmental situation informationfrom an image obtained from the image sensor 102, sound, such as avoice, obtained from the sound detector 106, movement obtained from themotion sensor 104, a temperature value obtained from the temperaturesensor 108, an approaching object detected by the proximity sensor 109,a pollutant, which may be a noxious substance having a noxiousness,detected by an environmental sensor, and any other similar and/orsuitable type of information and/or data obtained from any suitableand/or similar sensor, sensing device, and/or sensing unit.

Further, the control unit 120 may detect a person and/or object byanalyzing the image obtained from the image sensor 102, and may detect adangerous object by determining an approach through a distance to theperson or object.

Further, the control unit 120 may detect a dangerous object by analyzinga sound obtained from the sound detector 106, such as a horn fromvehicles including a car, a bicycle, a train, a subway train, and anambulance, and sounds such as a fire emergency bell, a burglar alarm, ashouting sound, and an animal's howling sound. The control unit 120 maydetect dangerous states such as an impact, a collision, and a drop ofthe portable terminal, by analyzing a movement of the portable terminalobtained from the motion sensor 104. The control unit 120 may detect adangerous state of the surroundings of the portable terminal byanalyzing a temperature value obtained from the temperature sensor 108.The control unit 120 may detect an approach of a person and/or object ifthe person and/or object are detected by the proximity sensor. Thecontrol unit 120 may determine that the environmental situation isharmful to a person if a pollutant concentration detected by theenvironmental sensor is higher than a predetermined value.

The control unit 120 may determine levels corresponding to the dangerousobject and/or dangerous state, and may differentiate a level ofnotifying and alarming to a user according to the levels of dangerousobject and/or dangerous state.

Namely, the control unit 120 may give an urgent alarm to a user, or mayswitch off the portable terminal, if the level of danger is determinedto be very high. Alternatively, the control unit 120 may output a noticedisplayed on a screen, such as a moving images or graphics, an alarmsound, a vibration, and switching on a light, if the level of danger isrelatively low, or in other words, if the user may easily recognize adanger.

For example, if an approach of a person and/or object is determined tobe closer than a predetermined level by analyzing an image obtained fromthe image sensor 102, the control unit 120 may determine that the personand/or object may inflict an injury to a user due to a higherpossibility of collision. If at least one of a movement, a collision,and an impact generated in the portable terminal is determined to behigher than a predetermined level using the motion sensor 104, thecontrol unit 120 may determine that a user may get injured. If atemperature value obtained from the temperature sensor 108 is higherthan a predetermined value, the control unit 120 may determine that adangerous object casing a fire or explosion is generated and a user canget injured. If an approach of object is determined to be closer than apredetermined distance using the proximity sensor 109, the control unit120 may determine that a dangerous object having a higher possibility ofcollision with the user is generated. If a pollutant concentrationmeasured by the environment sensor is higher than a predetermined value,the control unit 120 determines that a user should escape from theenvironmental situation.

The control service may be at least one of an execution of stopping anapplication operating in the portable terminal, an execution ofswitching off a screen, and an execution of outputting an alarm noticesound, and may further utilize any method of awakening and/or alerting auser by attracting attention at the same time of stopping or terminatingan operation of the portable terminal.

The notice service is at least one of an execution of outputtingmetaphors including at least one of a text, a symbol, and an icon fornotifying a dangerous state in a screen, an image of dangerous object, asilhouette of dangerous object, an image determined according to thedangerous object, an execution of reducing a brightness of a screen, andan execution of moving image contents to notify a danger. Further anymethod of notifying a dangerous state in an operating state of theportable terminal may be applicable. The metaphor may be output to anapplication execution screen and/or a waiting screen, and may becontrolled according to settings of a size and a transparency of themetaphor.

The storage unit 130 is an auxiliary memory device of the control unit120, and may include a disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Read OnlyMemory (ROM), a flash memory, or any other similar and/or suitablehardware element that stores data and/or information. The storage unit130 may store data generated by the portable terminal under the controlof the control unit 120, and/or data received from an external device,for example, a server, desktop PC, and tablet PC, through the wirelesscommunication unit 170 or an external device interface unit (not shown).

The storage unit 130 stores a booting program and an Operating System(OS) for the operation of portable terminal.

The storage unit 130 stores an embedded application and a 3rd partyapplication. The 3rd party application may be freely installed andcontrolled. If the portable terminal is switched on, a booting programis firstly loaded in a main memory, for example, a RAM, of the controlunit 120. The booting program loads an OS in the main memory for theoperation of portable terminal. The OS executes applications by loadingthe applications in the main memory.

In particular, the storage unit 130, according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, may include an environmental situation informationdatabase 131, a notice service database 132, and a control servicedatabase 133. The environmental situation information database mayinclude predictable environmental situation information stored in amanufacturing process of the portable terminal, and data of dangerousstates and dangerous objects.

The display unit 140 may include a touch panel (not shown) and a displaypanel (not shown). The touch panel may be installed in the displaypanel. The touch panel generates an analog signal, for example, a touchevent, responding to a user's gesture, and transmits a digital signal tothe control unit 120 by converting the digital signal from the analogsignal.

In particular, the display unit 140, according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, may output an application execution screen, awaiting screen, and a booting screen, and may display a notice serviceextracted by the control unit 120. Alternatively, the display unit 140may stop or terminate the application execution screen, a home screen, awaiting screen, a locking screen, and an environment setting screen,and/or may display a screen covered by the notice service.

The input unit 160 may receive a command input by a user to execute anotice service and/or a control service, and a command for driving atleast one sensor.

The audio processing unit 150 performs input and output functions of anaudio signal to support functions of voice recognition, voice recording,digital recording, and voice communication by using a combination of aSpeaker (SPK) and a Microphone (MIC).

The audio processing unit 150 receives a digital audio signal from thecontrol unit 120, converts the received digital audio signal to ananalog audio signal, and amplifies and then outputs the analog audiosignal to the speaker SPK. The audio processing unit 150 outputs ananalog audio signal received from the MIC, and outputs the analog audiosignal to the control unit 120 after converting it to a digital audiosignal.

In particular, the audio processing unit 150, according to the presentdisclosure, may stop outputting sound contents to a speaker, earphone,or headset, according to a notice service and/or control serviceexecuted by the control unit 120. Further, the audio processing unit 150may store an alarm sound and/or a specific sound detected by the sounddetector 106, and outputs such to the speaker, earphone, and headset.

The wireless communication unit 170 performs a wireless communicationfunction with a base station and/or other devices. The mobilecommunication unit 170 may be a Radio Frequency (RF) communication unitconfigured with a transmitter for up-converting the frequency of asignal to be transmitted and amplifying an electric power, and areceiver for low-noise amplifying and down-converting the frequency of areceived signal. Further, the wireless communication unit 170 mayinclude an encoder and a decoder. The encoder outputs a signal to thetransmitter by encoding the signal, and the decoder decodes a signalreceived from the receiver. The encoder and decoder may correspond toany communication system, and may be one of a Long Term Evolution (LTE)system, a WCDMA system, a GSM system, a WIFI system, and a WirelessBroadband (WIBRO) system. The wireless communication unit 170 performs awireless communication function between a terminal device and a networkby connecting to a public radio communication network and/or an internenetwork. Further, the wireless communication unit 170 may include an LTEcommunication unit (not shown) for communicating with an LTE basestation and a WIFI communication unit (not shown).

In particular, the wireless communication unit 170, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure, may automatically transmitinformation of a dangerous state and/or a dangerous object determined bythe control unit 120 to a contact number. The contact number may includeat least one of telephone numbers determined and/or selected by adesigner and/or user of the portable terminal, such as telephone numbersof a family and friend, and telephone numbers of a fire station, policestation, and police box.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure of preventing anaccident while using a portable terminal according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2, the control unit 120 drives at least one sensorconfigured in the portable terminal at operation 100.

The portable terminal, which includes the control unit 120, may drivethe sensor in at least one of an application execution state, a waitingstate, and a booting state. The application may include an embeddedapplication and a 3rd party application. The embedded application may bean application launched in the portable terminal, such as a browser,email, and instant messenger. The 3rd party application may includevarious applications which may be installed in the portable terminal bydownloading from an online market.

Further, the sensor may be automatically driven according to a specificapplication determined by a designer, and/or driven according to auser's selection. The sensor is integrated in the portable terminal, andperforms a role of obtaining environmental situation information of theportable terminal, and/or obtains any other similar and/or suitablesensed information, as described above.

For example, the sensor may be at least one of the image sensor 102, themotion sensor 104, a voice detection sensor such as the sound detector106, the temperature sensor 108, the proximity sensor 109, a speeddetection sensor, and an environmental sensor, and may further includeany sensor which may obtain environmental situation information of theportable terminal. The motion sensor 104 may be configured with at leastone of an acceleration sensor, a gyroscopic sensor, a geomagneticsensor, an inertial sensor, a tilt sensor, and an infrared sensor.

The control unit 120 obtains and analyzes the environmental situationinformation at operation 110.

Namely, the control unit 120 obtains the environmental situationinformation using at least one sensor, such as an image obtained fromthe image sensor 102, a sound obtained from a voice detection obtainedfrom a voice detection sensor and/or the sound detector 106, movementobtained from the motion sensor 104, a temperature value obtained fromthe temperature sensor 108, an approach of an object detected by theproximity sensor 109, and a pollutant detected by an environmentalsensor.

The control unit 120 analyzes the environmental situation informationobtained at operation 110, and, at operation 120, determines whether adangerous object and/or dangerous state is detected according to theenvironmental situation information.

For example, the control unit 120 detects a person and/or object byanalyzing an image obtained from an image sensor, determines an approachof the person and/or object, and detects a dangerous object and/ordangerous state.

The control unit 120 may detect a dangerous object by analyzing a soundobtained from the voice detection sensor. For example, the control unit120 may detect a dangerous object and/or dangerous state by analyzing asound obtained from the sound detector 106, such as a horn from vehiclesincluding a car, a bicycle, a train, a subway train, and an ambulance,and sounds such as a fire emergency bell, a burglar alarm, a shoutingsound, and an animal's howling sound.

The control unit 120 may detect dangerous states such as an impact, acollision, and a drop of the portable terminal by analyzing a movementof the portable terminal obtained from the motion sensor 104. Thecontrol unit 120 may detect a dangerous state of the surroundings of theportable terminal by analyzing a temperature value obtained from thetemperature sensor 108. The control unit 120 may detect an approach of aperson and/or an object if the person and/or object are detected by theproximity sensor 109. The control unit 120 may determine that theenvironmental situation is harmful to a person if a pollutantconcentration detected by an environmental sensor is higher than avalue.

The control unit 120, at operation 130, extracts a control serviceand/or notice service mapped on the dangerous object and/or dangerousstate that has been detected.

The control service may be at least one of an execution of stopping anapplication operating in the portable terminal, an execution ofswitching off a screen, and an execution of outputting an alarm noticesound, and may further utilize any method of awakening a user byattracting attention at the same time of stopping or terminating aprevious state of the portable terminal.

The notice service is at least one of an execution of outputtingmetaphors including at least one of a text, a symbol, and an icon fornotifying a dangerous state in a screen, an image of dangerous object, asilhouette of dangerous object, an image determined according to thedangerous object, an execution of reducing the brightness of the screen,and an execution of displaying moving image contents to notify a danger.Further any method of notifying a dangerous state in an operating stateof the portable terminal may be applicable. The metaphor may be outputto an application execution screen and/or a waiting screen of a displayunit, and a size and a transparency of the screen may be controlledaccording to the settings of the portable terminal.

The control unit 120 executes the extracted control service and/ornotice service at operation 140.

Namely, the control unit 120 may stop an application operating in theportable terminal, may switch off a screen, and/or may notify a dangersituation to a user by generating an alarm notice sound.

The control unit may inform a dangerous situation to a user byoutputting metaphors including at least one of a text, the symbol, andthe icon for notifying a dangerous state in a screen, the image ofdangerous object, the silhouette of dangerous object, the imagedetermined according to the dangerous object, and/or by reducing thebrightness of the screen. Further, any method of notifying a dangerousstate in an operating state of the portable terminal may be applicable.The metaphor may be output to an application execution screen or to awaiting screen of a display unit, and the size and transparency of thescreen may be controlled according to the settings of the portableterminal. The metaphor may be output to an application execution screenor waiting screen, and may be controlled by settings of the size andtransparency of the metaphor.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure of preventing anaccident while using a portable terminal according to another embodimentof the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 3, the control unit 120 drives at least one sensorconfigured in the portable terminal at operation 200.

The portable terminal may drive the sensor in at least one of anapplication execution state and a waiting state. The application mayinclude an embedded application and a 3rd party application. Theembedded application may be an application launched in the portableterminal, such as a browser, email, and instant messenger. The 3rd partyapplication includes various applications which may be installed in theportable terminal by downloading from an online market.

Further, the sensor may be automatically driven according to a specificapplication determined by a designer, and/or driven according to auser's selection. The sensor is integrated in the portable terminal, andperforms a role of obtaining environmental situation information of theportable terminal.

For example, the sensor may be at least one of the image sensor 102, themotion sensor 104, a voice detection sensor such as the sound detector106, the temperature sensor 108, the proximity sensor 109, a speeddetection sensor, and an environmental sensor, and may further includeany sensor which may obtain environmental situation information of theportable terminal. The motion sensor 104 may be configured with at leastone of an acceleration sensor, a gyroscopic sensor, a geomagneticsensor, an inertial sensor, a tilt sensor, and an infrared sensor.

The control unit 120 obtains and analyzes the environmental situationinformation at operation 210.

Namely, the control unit 120 obtains the environmental situationinformation using at least one sensor, such as an image obtained fromthe image sensor 102, a sound obtained from a voice detection obtainedfrom a voice detection sensor and/or the sound detector 104, movementobtained from the motion sensor 104, a temperature value obtained fromthe temperature sensor 108, an approach of an object detected by theproximity sensor 109, and a pollutant detected by an environmentalsensor.

The control unit 120 analyzes the environmental situation informationobtained at operation 210, and, at operation 220, determines whether adangerous object is detected according to the environmental situationinformation.

For example, the control unit 120 detects a person and/or object byanalyzing an image obtained from the image sensor 102, determines anapproach of the person and/or object, and detects a dangerous objectand/or dangerous state.

The control unit 120 may detect a dangerous object by analyzing a soundobtained from the voice detection sensor and/or the sound detector 106.For example, the control unit 120 may detect a dangerous object and/ordangerous state by analyzing a sound obtained from the sound detector106, such as a horn from vehicles including a car, a bicycle, a train, asubway train, and an ambulance, and sounds, such as a fire emergencybell, a burglar alarm, a shouting sound, and an animal's howling sound.

The control unit 120 may detect dangerous states, such as an impact,collision, and drop of the portable terminal by analyzing a movement ofthe portable terminal obtained from the motion sensor 104. The controlunit 120 may detect a dangerous state of the surroundings, or in otherwords, a surrounding environment, of the portable terminal by analyzinga temperature value obtained from the temperature sensor 108. Thecontrol unit 120 may detect an approach of a person and/or object if theperson and/or object is detected by the proximity sensor 109. Thecontrol unit 120 may determine that the environmental situation isharmful to a person if a pollutant concentration detected by anenvironmental sensor is higher than a predetermined value.

The control unit 120 determines whether the detected dangerous objectand/or dangerous state can inflict an injury to a user and/or is a levelrecognizable by the user, or in other words, the control unit 120determines whether a level of the dangerous object and/or dangerousstate, which is a level that corresponds to a sensor, is higher than auser damage level and/or a recognition level, at operation 230.

The level of the dangerous object and/or dangerous state is determinedat operation 230 to differentiate the level of notifying and warning toa user according from the level of the dangerous object and/or dangerousstate.

Namely, the control unit 120 may give an urgent alarm to a user, and/ormay switch off the portable terminal, if the level of danger isdetermined to be relatively high. Alternatively, the control unit 120may output a notice display in a screen, such as moving images orgraphics, an alarm sound, vibration, and a switching on of a light, ifthe level of danger is relatively low, if the user may recognize adanger.

For example, if an approach of a person and/or object is determined tobe closer than a level by analyzing an image obtained from the imagesensor 102, the control unit 120 may determine that the person and/orobject may inflict an injury to a user due to a higher possibility ofcollision. If at least one of a movement, collision, and impactgenerated in the portable terminal is determined to be higher than alevel using the motion sensor 104, the control unit 120 may determinethat a user may get injured. If a temperature value obtained from thetemperature sensor 108 is higher than a value, the control unit 120 maydetermine that a dangerous object causing a fire and/or explosion isgenerated and a user may get injured. If an approach of object isdetermined to be closer than a distance using the proximity sensor 109,the control unit 120 may determine that a dangerous object having ahigher possibility of collision with a user is generated. If a pollutantconcentration measured by an environment sensor is higher than a value,the control unit 120 determines that the environmental situation isharmful to a user.

According to the determination at operation 230, if the dangerous objectand/or dangerous state may inflict an injury to a user and/or is a levelunrecognizable by the user, the control unit 120 extracts a controlservice mapped to the dangerous object and/or the dangerous state atoperation 240.

The control service may be at least one of an execution of stopping anapplication operating in the portable terminal, an execution ofswitching off a screen, and an execution of outputting an alarm noticesound, and may further utilize any method of awakening a user byattracting attention at the same time of stopping or terminating aprevious state of the portable terminal. The control unit 120 executesthe extracted control service at operation 250.

Namely, the portable terminal may inform of a dangerous situation to auser by stopping an application operating in the portable terminal,switching off a screen, and/or generating an alarm notice sound.

According to the determination at operation 230, if the dangerous objectand/or dangerous state may not inflict an injury to a user and/or is alevel recognizable by the user, the control unit 120 extracts a noticeservice mapped to the dangerous object and/or dangerous state atoperation 260.

The notice service is at least one of an execution of outputtingmetaphors including at least one of a text, a symbol, and an icon fornotifying a dangerous state in a screen, an image of dangerous object, asilhouette of dangerous object, an image determined according to thedangerous object, an execution of reducing the brightness of the screen,and an execution of displaying moving image contents to notify of adanger. Further any method of notifying of a dangerous state in anoperating state of the portable terminal may be applicable. The metaphormay be output to an application execution screen or a waiting screen,and may be controlled according to settings of the size and transparencyof the metaphor. The control unit 120 executes the extracted noticeservice at operation 270.

Namely, control unit 120 may inform a user of a dangerous situation byoutputting metaphors including at least one of a text, a symbol, and anicon for notifying a dangerous state in a screen, an image of thedangerous object, a silhouette of the dangerous object, an imagedetermined according to the dangerous object, and by reducing thebrightness of the screen.

FIGS. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are screen examples illustrating aservice providing method for preventing an accident while using aportable terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 4, an example of providing a service for preventing anaccident is described in a case where a user browses a website using aportable terminal while walking.

While the user is browsing the website by holding a portable terminalwith a hand and walking, the control unit 120 obtains an image from thesurroundings of the portable terminal using an image sensor, such as theimage sensor 102, of a camera installed in the portable terminal asshown in camera recognition screen 410.

The control unit 120 analyzes the obtained image and determines whetherthe obtained image matches a pre-stored image of a person's face, asshown in camera recognition screen 420. If the obtained image matchesthe pre-stored image of the person's face, the control unit 120 outputsa smile emoticon, as a metaphor mapped on the person's face, to abrowser execution screen, such as browser execution screens 430 and 440.Namely, the smile emoticon is displayed on the browser execution screenby overlapping.

If the person detected by the image sensor approaches closer to theuser, a face recognition area becomes larger, as shown in the camerarecognition screen 410 as compared to the camera recognition screen 420,and accordingly the metaphor on the screen of the portable terminalbecomes larger, as shown in the browser execution screen 430 as comparedto the browser execution screen 440. In the meantime, an opacity, or inother words, transparency, of the metaphor increases, and the user islimited in watching the browser screen according to the distance to theapproaching person, as shown in the browser execution screen 430 ascompared to the browser execution screen 440. Therefore, the user mayintuitively recognize that a person possibly causing a collision isapproaching.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, an example of providing a service forpreventing an accident is described in a case where a user browses awebsite using a portable terminal while walking and there are manypersons in front of the user while walking.

Referring to FIG. 5, while the user is browsing the website by holding aportable terminal with a hand and walking, the control unit 120 obtainsan image from the surroundings of the portable terminal using an imagesensor, such as the image sensor 102, of a camera installed in theportable terminal.

The control unit 120 analyzes the obtained image and determines whetherthe obtained image matches at least one of a plurality of pre-storedimage of persons' faces, as shown in camera recognition screen 510. Ifthe obtained image matches the at least one of the plurality ofpre-stored images of persons' faces, the control unit 120 outputs aplurality of smile emoticons as metaphors mapped on respective ones ofthe plurality of persons' faces to a browser execution screen 520.

Namely, as shown by the browser execution screen 520, the control unit120 displays the plurality of smile emoticons on the browser executionscreen 520 by overlapping the smile emoticons with the image of persons'faces detected in front of the portable terminal. Here, images ofpersons' faces that are more closely approaching the portable terminalare displayed in a larger size.

If there are more persons in front of the portable terminal, thepossibility of collision becomes higher than a case of one person.Accordingly, more metaphors for recognized face images are displayed, acovering area of the screen becomes larger, and the user is limited inwatching the web browser screen. Further, the opacity of the metaphorincreases, or in other words, the transparency of the metaphordecreases, according to a shortening of the distance to the approachingface, and the user is more limited in watching the screen. Therefore,the user may intuitively recognize that a plurality of persons possiblycausing a collision is approaching.

As shown in FIG. 6, the control unit 120 may output silhouettes ofpersons, as shown in a screen 620, as metaphors corresponding to thepersons detected in a camera recognition screen 610. Further, a size anda brightness of the silhouette may be differentiated according to adistance to the approaching person.

If an object and/or animal are detected besides a person, the controlunit 120 may display a silhouette of the object and/or animal in thescreen of the portable terminal by detecting the boundary of the objectusing an image recognition technology. In this case, the user mayintuitively recognize the existence of object at the front only byseeing the silhouette regardless of the types of objects.

Referring to FIG. 7, another example of providing a service forpreventing an accident is described in a case where a user is facingdown while walking and using a portable terminal.

Portable terminal users may walk while facing downwards, such as whenwalking and looking at a screen displayed on the portable terminal. Inthis case, it is not easy to recognize a face of person standing at thefront of the portable terminal by using a camera installed in theportable terminal. Accordingly, the control unit 120 may detect aportion of body beside a person's face and/or an object using an imagerecognition technology. For example, if legs of a person are detected,as shown in a camera recognition screen 710 of FIG. 7, the control unit120 may inform and/or provide notification to the user to recognize adanger situation by covering the application execution screen and/orwaiting screen, as shown in a screen 720.

Referring to FIG. 8, an example of providing a service for preventing anaccident is described in a case where a user is using a portableterminal while walking and the speed and direction of a moving personand/or object are different.

While walking in the street, a person approaching a user has a highpossibility of collision with the user than a person walking in the samedirection as the user. However, the person walking in the same directionas the user may also have a high possibility of collision with the user,if the person stops suddenly and/or the user walks faster than theperson.

Accordingly, the control unit 120 may display a danger sign in adifferent way by determining the possibility of collision according toat least one of the speed and direction of a moving person in the areasurrounding the portable terminal. Namely, the control unit 120 maydisplay a danger notice according to an approaching person, a recedingperson, an approaching speed, and a receding speed.

Referring to FIG. 8, while the user is walking in the street by watchinga screen of the portable terminal, the control unit 120 controls todisplay redder, or any other similar color, and larger emoticons in anapplication execution screen 820 if persons are approaching the user, asshown in camera recognition screen 810, and/or persons are walkingslower but in the same direction as the user. The control unit 120displays paler, or in other words, less red, and smaller emoticons inthe application execution screen 820 if the persons walk faster than theuser but in the same direction as the user.

Accordingly, the user may recognize a person having a possibility ofcollision and prepare to avoid the collision, even though the user isimmersed in the baseball game.

Referring to FIG. 9, an example of providing a service for preventing acollision with a car and/or bicycle is described in a case where a useris using a portable terminal while walking or riding a bicycle.

In a case where a user is watching a baseball game using the portableterminal and riding a bicycle, the control unit 120 may collect a soundgenerated in the surroundings of the portable terminal, the surroundingsof the portable terminal being shown in camera recognition screen 910,by using a sound detection sensor, such as the sound detector 106,installed in the portable terminal.

The control unit 120 analyzes the collected sound and determines whetherthe collected sound matches a pre-stored sound. If the collected soundmatches the pre-stored sound, the control unit 120 outputs a dangernotice moving image in an application execution screen 920 as a metaphormapped on the sound.

Here, the sound may be a horn of a transportation means including a car,a bicycle, a train, a subway train, and an ambulance. The danger noticemay be a moving image contents including a text such as “STOP”, an imageof the user's riding figure, and an image of an object corresponding tothe detected sound.

As shown in the application execution screen 920, a moving imagecontents showing a collision between the user's bicycle and a car may beoutput on an image in the application execution screen 920. The movingimage contents may partially or fully cover the image in the applicationexecution screen 920. Further, a sound output to a speaker, an earphone,or a headset related to image in the application execution screen 920may be stopped at the same time of displaying the danger notice.Further, another alarm sound or a specific sound detected by the sounddetection sensor may be stored, and output to the speaker, the earphone,and/or the headset.

Further, as a notice service for informing a danger to a user, thecontrol unit 120 may vibrate an additional accessory, output a soundthrough the additional accessory, turn on a light of the portableterminal, and/or output a signal to a wearable device such as a watch,eye glasses, and clothes.

Further, the control unit 120 may adjust an angle of a camera lens toget an optimum searching area by detecting a location and direction ofthe portable terminal held by the user using a motion sensor and maydetect an object located in front of the portable terminal using animage sensor, such as the image sensor 102. Accordingly, a shortcomingof missing a dangerous object according to the user's posture of holdingthe portable terminal may be remedied. Further, the control unit 120 maydetect a wider environmental situation in any case by adjusting amagnification of the camera lens to a wide angle.

Referring to FIG. 10, if an object possibly causing a collision existsin front of the portable terminal, the control unit 120 may control todisplay an image and/or animation to inform the user with a location ofthe object possibly causing the collision.

For example, if the object possibly causing the collision is determinedto be located at an upper side of the portable terminal, the controlunit 120 may display an arrow mark pointing towards an upward direction,as shown by an application execution screen 1010. If the object possiblycausing a collision is determined to move from a left side to a rightside of the portable terminal, the control unit 120 may display an arrowmark pointing towards a right direction, as shown by applicationexecution screen 1020. Additionally, the control unit 120 may controlthe arrow mark to gradually cover the screen in a sliding manneraccording to a movement of the object possibly causing a collision.

The portable terminal according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure may prevent an accident by obtaining environmental situationinformation using at least one sensor, determining a dangerous objectand/or a dangerous state by analyzing the environmental situationinformation, and notifying a user of the dangerous object and/ordangerous state.

While the present disclosure has been shown and described with referenceto various embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilledin the art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure asdefined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for preventing an accident in a portableterminal, the method comprising: obtaining environmental situationinformation from a sensor; detecting a dangerous object by analyzing theenvironmental situation information; extracting at least one of a noticeservice mapped to the dangerous object and a control service mapped tothe dangerous object; and executing the at least one of the extractednotice service and the extracted control service.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein the notice service mapped to the dangerous object isextracted from a notice service database storing information on mappingof at least one notice service to at least one dangerous object, andwherein the control service mapped to the dangerous object is extractedfrom a control service database storing information on mapping of atleast one control service to at least one dangerous object.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the obtaining of the environmental situationinformation using the sensor includes at least one of obtaining an imageof an environmental situation using an image sensor, detecting a soundof the environmental situation using a voice input unit, detecting amotion of the portable terminal using a sensor, detecting a temperatureof the environmental situation using a temperature sensor, detecting anapproaching object using a proximity sensor, and detecting a noxioussubstance of the environmental situation using an environmental sensor.4. The method of claim 3, wherein the detecting of the approachingobject further comprises determining whether stored environmentalsituation information matching the obtained environmental situationinformation exists.
 5. The method of claim 3, wherein the storedenvironmental situation information is stored in an environmentalsituation information database.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein thedetecting of the dangerous object by analyzing an environmentalsituation information is at least one of detecting a dangerous object bydetecting at least one of a person and an object through an analysis ofan image obtained from an image sensor and determining an approach ofthe at least one of the person and the object, detecting the dangerousobject by analyzing a sound obtained from a sound detection sensor,detecting dangerous states of an impact, a collision, and a drop of theportable terminal by analyzing a movement of the portable terminalobtained from a motion sensor, detecting a dangerous state ofsurroundings of the portable terminal by analyzing a temperature valueobtained from a temperature sensor, detecting an approach of the atleast one of the person and the object in the surroundings of theportable terminal if the approach of the at least one of the person andthe object is detected through a proximity sensor, and detecting anoxious substance in the surroundings of the portable terminal if anoxiousness is detected by an environmental sensor.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: determining a danger level of the detecteddangerous object; extracting a notice service mapped to the dangerousobject if the danger level is lower than a level; and extracting acontrol service mapped to the dangerous object if the danger level ishigher than the level.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the determiningof the danger level of the detected dangerous object determines that theenvironmental situation may inflict an injury on a user if an approachof at least one of a person and an object is identified to be higherthan a another level by analyzing an image obtained from an imagesensor, determines that an environmental situation may inflict an injuryon the user if at least one of a movement, an impact, and a collision ofthe portable terminal detected by a motion sensor is identified to behigher than yet another level, determines that the environmentalsituation may inflict an injury on the user if a temperature valuedetected by a temperature sensor is identified to be higher than atemperature value, determines that the dangerous object having a higherpossibility of colliding with the user approaches the user if thedangerous object detected by a proximity sensor is closer than adistance value, and determines that the environmental situation mayinflict an injury to the user if a noxiousness detected by anenvironmental sensor is higher than a noxiousness value.
 9. The methodof claim 7, wherein the control service is at least one of: an executionof stopping an application operating in the portable terminal, anexecution of terminating the application, an execution of switching offa screen, an execution of partially or fully covering the screen, and anexecution of providing an alarm notice sound.
 10. The method of claim 7,wherein the notice service is at least one of an execution of outputtingmetaphors including at least one of a text, a symbol, and an icon fornotifying a dangerous state in a screen, image contents corresponding tothe dangerous object, a silhouette corresponding to the dangerousobject, and at least one of an image and a moving image contentscorresponding to the dangerous object while operating an application inthe portable terminal, an execution of reducing a brightness of thescreen, an execution of outputting a separate warning sound through atleast one of a speaker, an earphone, and a headset, an execution ofvibrating an additional accessory, an execution of turning on a lightprovided in the portable terminal, and an execution of transmitting adanger signal to a wearable device connected with the portable terminalthrough at least one of a wireless communication unit and wiredcommunication unit.
 11. An apparatus for preventing an accident in aportable terminal, the apparatus comprising: a sensor unit configured toobtain environmental situation information of the portable terminal; acontrol unit configured to detect a dangerous object by analyzing theenvironmental situation information obtained from the sensor unit, toextract at least one of a notice service mapped to the dangerous objectand a control service mapped to the dangerous object, and to execute theat least one of the extracted notice service and the control service;and a storage unit configured to store environmental situationinformation for comparing with the at least one of the extracted noticeservice and the extracted control service.
 12. The apparatus of claim11, wherein the storage unit is configured to store a notice servicedatabase storing information on mapping of at least one notice serviceto at least one dangerous object, wherein the storage unit is configuredto store a control service database storing information on mapping of atleast one control service to at least one dangerous object, and whereinthe storage unit is configured to store environmental situationinformation in an environmental situation information database.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 11, further comprising at least one of a speaker, aheadset, and an earphone, wherein the at least one of the speaker, theheadset, and the earphone are configured to output an alarm notice soundaccording to the at least one of the notice service and the controlservice.
 14. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising an additionalaccessory configured to be connectable to the portable terminal throughat least one of a wireless communication unit and a wired communicationunit, and to execute at least one of a vibration and outputting of asound according to the at least one of the notice service and thecontrol service.
 15. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising awearable device configured to be connectable to the portable terminalthrough at least one of a wireless communication unit and a wiredcommunication unit, to receive a danger signal according to the at leastone of the notice service and the control service, wherein the wearabledevice is configured to include at least one of eyeglasses, a watch,clothes, and an object that may be disposed on a body of a user of theportable terminal.
 16. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising awireless communication unit configured to automatically transmitinformation of the dangerous object determined by the control unit to apredetermined contact number, wherein the contact number is at least oneof a telephone number of a family member and a friend determined by atleast one of a designer and a user, and telephone numbers of at leastone of a fire station, a police station, and a police box.
 17. Theapparatus of claim 11, wherein the control service is at least one of anexecution of stopping an application operating in the portable terminal,an execution of terminating the application, an execution of switchingoff a screen, an execution of partially or fully covering the screen,and an execution of providing an alarm notice sound.
 18. The apparatusof claim 11, wherein the notice service is at least one of an executionof outputting metaphors including at least one of a text, a symbol, andan icon for notifying a dangerous state in a screen, image contentscorresponding to the dangerous object, a silhouette corresponding to thedangerous object, and at least one of an image and a moving imagecontents corresponding to the dangerous object while operating anapplication in the portable terminal, an execution of reducing abrightness of the screen, an execution of outputting a separate warningsound through at least one of a speaker, an earphone, and a headset, anexecution of vibrating an additional accessory, an execution of turningon a light provided in the portable terminal, and an execution oftransmitting a danger signal to a wearable device connected with theportable terminal through at least one of a wireless communication unitand a wired communication unit.